Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1887-07-01
STANFORD'S FIRST DOLLAR.
Tho Railroad Magnate Tells the Story o.
His BoyhOod Days.

His Boyhood Days.
81 remember how | earned my first dol.
lar Just rs well a. if il had occurred yes
terday," said Senator Stanford in CONVEX
sation recently. IL was farmers son ana
lived on my father farm in the No.
hawk valley, between Albany and Schen-
ectady. on what was then known rs the
Consaul road. There were three brothers
of MS. | was about q years old AT the
time. My father was contractor and
was absent from home n good deal Of the
time. leaving the place in charge of the
gardener. who went TO the market at
Schenectady twice week with wagon
load of vegetables TO sell at the market
one day my brothers and myself gathered
a lot of hOrscradish i'm the garden, washed
b clean and sent it 10 the market with the
rest of the vegetables. When he came
home at night the gardener handed us six
York shillings, which was the profit of
our produce. and we divided il evenly.
each OF Us having two shillings. That
was The first money | ever earned, and |
never see boy trying to ear few pennies
without feeling renewed qualification at
my success in that cndcayor.
My next financial endcavOr," contin-
ued the Senator, was in 1881 or 1882
We boys were in the habit OF gathering y
store OF chestnuts every fall and putting
them in the garel for winters use. One
day our nirCd man came home from mar
kct and told Is a bit OF gossip that chest
nuts were worth - bushel in market.
The next time The gardener went To town
We put what we had gathered i'm grain
bags and sent them in by him He sold
them for s. bushcl and brought Us home
so, which You, perhaps, can understand
was n large sum of money for boys of
our age in those days, when grown men
were working for shilling day. Until
went 10 Albany to study law in 1916,
when ! was y years OF age, | attended the
country schools and picked up the rudi-
mcnts of an education in them. In the
summer | worked on Il farm, and at times
assisted my father IN his contracts, seeing
"a little OF the world around me. one win
ter, when | was about Is years old. and
stout, vigorous boy, my father bought u
lot of woodland and told me that if |
would cut the timber of | might have the
proceeds. ! went TO work with a will and
cut ,, 500 cords tlat Wintcr-not alone. but
with the assistance of some men hired
VIXEN the wood was cut | hauled ii in to
town and sold il to the Mohawk Is lIud-
son River Railroad. now part of the
of 81 a cord on the transaction and found
myself the poSscssor Of - 600
after finishing my studies in the Office
of Wheaton, Dooittlc u lladley in Al
bany. and beng admitted TO the bar, got
the Western fever, and started with an.
other young man 10 the northern part Of
Wisconsin, | was not very successful rs
n lawyer and used 10 write on political
and other subjects and took great inter.
est in the village debating society and local
politics. Several of my fcllow-townsmcn
who were similarly inclined joined with
me in organizing company Tor the pur-
pose Of publishing paper. had a very
narrow escape from becoming an editor.
We learned that there was press and an
outfit Of type for sale in Milwaukee which
could be had for 800. 1t was IA long and
tedious ride, AMI you may imagine my dis
appointment upon my arrival at my dcsti.
nation 10 find that The press and outfit had
been sold few days before. The enter
prise was abandoned. | went back TO the
law, but soon after had another misior-
tune. The building in which had my
Office burned, and with II all my books and
worldly possessions. ! was almost hopeless
then, and gladly accepted an invitation
from my brothers to join them in CGlifC1-
&c This was in 1872, four years after
The discovery OF gold on the Pacific slope,
and packing up the few things had left,
set out overland 10 the GolConda. Ar
irving there, settled in little town called
Michigan Bluffs, in the mercantile bu,i
ness, eld three years later moved 10 San
FranciScO, where have since lived.